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Aviation History
1921
1921 - 0615.PDF
SEPIBMBEB 15, 1921 THE U.S. AERIAL BOMBING EXPERIMENTS ON WARSHIPS THE'following particulars of the aerial bombing experimentson various types of warships carried out recently by the U.S. Government may be of interest to readers of FLIGHT.It is to be regretted that the information at our disposal , is, somewhat incomplete, so that it is difficult to form anydefinite conclusions from the results of these tests—only in one or two cases, for example, do we know the altitudefrom which the bombs were dropped. Even allowing for our lack of details, however, we cannot say that we are par-ticularly impressed with these tests—as testa. For instance, it must be remembered that except in the case of the Iowa,the targets were at anchor, or adrift, and were attacked, as far as we can ascertain, at comparatively close range—at between 1,000-3,000 ft., where, we should think, it would not have been very pleasant for the aircraft under actualWar conditions ! The first of the series of tests took place on June 21, offthe Virginia Capes, when the surrendered German submarine " U. 117" was attacked, and eventually sunk, by a Navaldivision of F-5-L flying boats (three machines). Several other divisions, Naval and Army, of F-5-L and N.C. flyingboats, Glenn Martin bombers, and D.H. 4 machines, were also to have attacked, but the submarine was sunk beforetheir turn came. At 9 a.m. the three F-5-L flying boats, under Lieut. D. Thomas, took off from Hampton Roads by the Army airship D. 2, which spotted the Iowa and itsconsort of ships about 65 miles off Cape Henry and wirelessed the report to the U.S.S. Shawmut, the flagship of the airforces. This message was intercepted by one of the F-5-L flying boats, and relayed to the Shawmut, and shortly afterthe first of the attacking machines appeared over the target. Nine F-5-L and one N.C. flying boats, five Martin bombers,and five D.H. 4's took part in the thirty-five aerial attacks. On several occasions the pilots had to hold their fire due to thechanges in the course and speed of the Iowa. The F-5-L's attacked singly, flying in single file over the moving Iowadirectly into the wind until their four 163-lb. bombs had been released, and the NC. boat dropped her four 500-lb. bombssingly, without, however, making a direct hit. The five D.H. 4's also flew in single formation, and dropped two230-lb. bombs each. The last attack of the day was made by the Martin bombers, each carrying two 1,000-lb. bombs.They flew in excellent formation, and their final salvo made quite an " artistic " pattern around the Iowa. It is reportedthat altogether only two direct hits were made, each being on the forecastle of the Iowa. We have no further informationon this test, which appears to us to be the most interesting of the series. On July 13, the ex-German Destroyer " G. 102 " was bombedand sunk by the Army Air Service, about 41 machines THE U.S. AERIAL BOMBING TESTS ON WARSHIPS : Four of the vesselsjused in the tests.W(l) Ex-U.S.S. "Iowa," which was controlled by wireless. (2) The ex-German armoured cruiser "Frankfurt." (3)JThe ex-German submarine " U.117." (4) The ex-German battleship " Ostfriesland." and headed for the position of the submarine. About anhour later the division was sighted by the vessels of the Atlantic Fleet which were standing by the " U. 117."A few minutes later the flying boats let go a first salvo of three 163 lb. Mark IV bombs, from an altitude of 1,000 ft.No direct hits were obtained, but one bomb fell close to the submarine on the port side, and the other two fell to star-board. The machines thereupon made a large circle and headed back upon the target, and then let go a second salvoof nine bombs. Two of these scored direct hits just aft of the conning tower, and the remaining eight bombs fell inclose proximity of the target, which immediately began to settle. It sank by the bows in six minutes from being hit. The next test (scheduled for June 28, but postponed onaccount of a thick haze), a " dummy " bombing attack on the radio-controlled ex-battleship U.S.S. Iowa, took placeon June 29, also off Virginia Capes. The Iowa was under her own power, without pilot or crew, directed by radio from theU.S.S. Ohio. She was steaming at half speed, but during the bombing test the speed was varied by the operator onthe Ohio between 3 and 9J knots, which together with the various changes of course rendered the aim of the bombersmore difficult. Prior to the bombing test proper, the attacking aircrafthad to determine the position of the Iowa in a possible area of 25,000 miles. This was accomplished within two hours attacking. The G. 102 was adrift off the Virginia Capes,and the attacking machines used shore-bases at Langley Field and Hampton Roads. The aircraft employed consistedof 11 S.E. 5*s, 14 D.H. 4B's, 14 Martin bombers, and 2 Caproni's, in addition to a few other machines for observation work, etc.The S.E. 5's made the first attack, and dropped about 40 25-lb. Cooper bombs, with the object of destroying or drivingbelow deck the " personnel " of the destroyer, and preparing the way for the heavy bombers. They arrived in V formationat 1,000 ft... and then formed into single file and dived on to the target. About 50 per cent, of their bombs scored directhits. After this the D.H. 4's and the Martin bombers, carrying300-lb. bombs, attached from about 3,000 ft., dropping between them 51 bombs. One of the D.H. machines obtainedthe first direct hit, and the destroyer commenced to sink by the bows immediately after. A second direct hit, fromone of the Martins, struck amidships, and sent the destroyer to the bottom right away. A somewhat severe test was carried out on July 18, whenthe ex-German Cruiser Frankfurt was bombed and sunk by Army and Navy Aircraft. The Frankfurt, which tookpart in the battle of Jutland and the Skuttle of Scapa Flow, was one of the later types of light cruisers, laid down in 1913.It had a normal displacement of about 5,100 tons, a speed of 28-5 knots, and the "armament consisted of eight5'9-in. guns. 615
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